I'm currently watching Hotaru no hikari. I like it, because it's funny and light, but I'm watching it slowly (no more than one episode/night), because Hotaru's rolling around moaning on the floor can become a little bit too much... Still, I find myself laughing a lot, and this drama also explains a few things. The person who first made me watch Japanese dramas once described herself as a "dried fish woman". I was like whaat... but now I see that it's actually something they say?!...
Anyway. I'm only on the 4th episode, but so far I think Hotaru reminds me a lot about Sakura in Last Cinderella. I think there are many similarities, like the general idea about how a woman "should" act (opinions that were clearly voiced in LC in a way that was almost shocking to me, but it looks like this is a common way of thinking) v/s the wish to be yourself, breaking free of these ideals.
Unlike Hotaru, who acts like a "normal" office lady at work but perfers to drink beer and wear comfortable non-fashionable clothes at home where she can relax, Sakura never pretends to be something she's not. She thinks she has every right in the world to be herself, while (the younger) Hotaru isn't quite there yet. Hotaru also hasn't any close friends she can confide in. It's like Last Cinderella is an updated version of Hotaru no hikari.
I also feel like Fujiki Naohito almost repeats the same kind of character in LC as in H no H. The manager is quite shocked that a woman can behave like Hotaru, going as far as telling her that he can't see her as a real woman. Tachibana in LC, about five years later, is even more harsh and he's Sakura's most determined critic! Having seen this character first, I feel that I can easily guess that Hotaru's boss (who does seem a bit gentler than Tachibana) is going to fall for her. In fact, I really like the chemistry between Hotaru and her boss, but so far I don't see anything interesting at all about this Makoto guy Hotaru has a crush on. Far from having any of Hiroto's charisma, he still seems pretty anonymous to me. One thing I appreciated about LC was how difficult it was to guess (at least it was for me) which one of the guys Sakura was going to end up with, and it even took me a long time to decide which ending I was hoping for. I did decide to side with "Team Hiroto" eventually, but I also felt that there were good things about Tachibana as well. This time, because Makoto seems pretty mediocre to me, I'm rooting for Fujiki Naohito's character. Simply because Takano is a likeable guy.
Of course, I'm not saying that there are so many significant parallels that it makes LC an actual new version of Hotaru no hikari (after all, there are lots of differences when it comes to the actual plot and the supporting characters...), these are just some small observations/thoughts. I'm just saying that watching Hotaru no hikari, I feel that I get a better understanding of Last Cinderella and why people seemed to appreciate it so much. :)
Something I appreciate about H no H, though, is that the other girl who likes Makoto-kun is actually a nice person. (At least as far as I know...) She doesn't appear to be a manipulative, backstabbing crazy stalker type, like Chiyoko (or like similar type of girls I've seen in a few other dramas), she just happens to like the same guy.
